Catching Her Attention
by Karianasan
Summary: Another normal day for Mystery Inc, and with most of the gang out with Daphne, Fred wanders to see what Velma is up to. Maybe he can catch her attention from her project? Every Day/Slice of Life story. Part One. Complete!
1. Catching Her Attention

Is was a lazy afternoon, in the Mystery Inc. household. Boring, dull and nothing of interest. Just a simple day, with nothing out of the ordinary going on. Daphne, as usual, was out shopping. She had left early, to beat the morning rush and fight for the right sales. Sure, she could afford buying the whole store if she really wanted to, but there was a joy with competing with the other ladies for the right sized shirt that she could save a few extra few bucks on. Enjoying the thrill of the chase, as she hunted down just the right thing she was looking for and would come out victorious!

And poor Shaggy and Scooby had been at the wrong place, wrong time and got swept up to assist in her quest for the best deal. The duo had nothing planned, so they eventually went along with her to face the crowds. But what really sealed the deal, was the promise of the Food Court at the end of their journey with her. So with most of the residents gone, the house had grown quiet.

Bent over her current project, Velma was neck deep in her work. With a goofy look on her face, a tongue hung out slightly to one side as she was engrossed with her flashlight. Her friend and companion on countless mysteries, she had over the years upgraded the little device from an early fluorescent bulb type to the LED wonder she had modified to fit into the older, beloved outer housing. And with the conversion to LED, she had more than enough room to add other little bits of electronics in the space where two C sized batteries once sat. Her current idea was to alter some of the mechanics she had already created in place, so that she could socket in other parts if she would need to. Like a cellphone jammer, and other more tech savvy devices. Bad guys always took advantage of whatever technology they could get; to scare, spook and otherwise be a pain in the gangs' side. So giving herself a leg up against whatever she might come across, was always nice. Though hindsight was 20-20, as most of the time it took her wanting something during a chase sequence to come up with a useful idea for countering something she had already faced.

"Oh well..."

Talking to herself, Velma leaned back and gave unto a stretch. Pulling all her joints into a more humanoid position, she yawned as her limbs worked the kinks out of her previous position. As her stretch ended, her thoughts got distracted by a sound coming from behind her. The squeal was familiar, telling her ears that someone was standing on step fourteen, and rocking back and forth to get her attention. Making the little stair call out, and beg for her to notice it and the person who was making such a noise. And with her mind recalling the earlier events, she was pretty sure she knew who it was.

"Hiya Freddy. Come on down."

Calling out to the man without looking, she guessed who it might be. Leaning her head back, she looked at the man grinning, upside down as the low backing on her current chair let her lean back and tilt her head enough to see him from behind.

"How long have you been waiting there?" She mused, curious on how long she had kept him waiting. When she got into some of her projects, it was hard to catch her attention. So he could have been there for hours for all she knew.

"Oh, not long. But I didn't want to disturb you in case whatever you were working on was flammable, combustible, or otherwise would be bad to interrupt."

Fred said with a smile, finally trotting down the final step to reach the bottom. Shifting something he was holding from one hand to the next. Shaggy and Scooby were more known for setting off the fire alarm in general, but it was Velma who had installed them in the first place. Wanting to make sure that there were extra ones in the house, more than a normal family might have... _Just in case_.

"What you working on over there?" Fred asked from where he stood, trying to get a look at it before he moved closer.

Velma's work table had been tucked across the space of the basement, snuggled into almost the back corner of the room. Next to it tended to be the piles of bean bags that she used for reading when the gang didn't steal them for other ideas. Also in the middle of the room was their gaming table, still set up from the last Maidens and Monsters game. Her little desk had been used for many occasions, from letters to reading, and 'saving the world'... But at the moment it was cleared off save for the parts she had currently been soldering. Little bits and bobs of circuit electronics sat around her in piles, with corresponding little shelves and storage spaces that housed even more parts she wasn't using. (Courtesy of Daphne, who had once discovered 'The Container Store' and decided to buy her at matching set to house her electronics.) Fred wandered across the room to stand beside her, taking a look at all the parts. While he wasn't as skilled as Velma was with electronics, he was proficient enough to gather from a glance what she was working on.

"Oh, out fitting 'Old Betsy'?" He affectionately named Velma's old flashlight. Having saved him a time or two in the past, the handheld was familiar staple on their Mysteries and a welcoming sight whenever she got pulled out. He himself had his own light he packed for their outings, but his didn't have the history that hers did. Plus, his tended to be cobbled together with some great plan of his, ending up in pieces more times than he could recall... so it was better that he didn't have one he cared about to end up at the bottom of the sea or some other crazy location they ended up in.

"Yep. I was tweaking the inner workings to allow for further integration of multi-situational components for fast conversion and easy of transport and installation. And I plan to pack a kit into my section of the Mystery Machine so I could tweak this on car rides and on the go if needed."

Velma explained, holding up the housing and showing how it inserted back into the flashlight handle and where some of the spare parts could sit and the little case for the extra bits. Similar to a USB connector, it allowed her pre-made components to slide in and out of the case to do various things. And the buttons on the base of the light allowed her to trigger the electronics. Thankfully it was all numbered, so all she would have to do was to recall which was socked where and she would be able to use it with a touch of a button.

Fred smiled and nodded, decoding the Velma-speak in his own head. ' _Thingy one goes in to slot one, and thingy two goes in slot two. Press the right button, to use one of electronic thingies on a mystery... And foil the bad guy. Easy to assemble on the go._ '

"Got it. So, you going to be working on this for a while?" Fred wondered.

"I was thinking about it, why you need my help for something?" She didn't have to finish it today, but she wanted to work on it at some point. At least hopefully before another mystery fell into their laps.

"Nah, I was working on the van earlier. But right now I didn't have anything so I was bored and came down to see if you needed any help."

"I'm good, though you can hang out here if you want." Velma gestured to the basement, not wanting to hog it all to herself. It was a bit stuffy and muggy outside, and the basement made for a cool retreat when the weather started to get hot. "You are welcome to keep me company."

"Sounds like a Plan!" He said with a nod.


	2. Fred is up to something

"Sounds like a Plan!" He said simply with a nod, looking around the room to figure out where he wanted to sit. Not paying as much attention to Fred as he wandered around behind her, Velma turned back to her work. Examining what she had so far, and checking a small post-it note beside her, that had some barely legible scribbles of her notes that she could hardly make out. One of the down sides of having more ideas then one could jot down at a time. She tended to have to make a mad dash of erratic writing to manage to get most of the ideas on paper for later.

As she was working, a small part of her attention drifted to pay attention to Fred behind her. ' _I think he is at the table...?_ ' She had heard him bump into the large piece of furniture, and the sudden sound of wood against the concrete floor was a clear indication of his actions. ' _Ah, sitting in my chair... Hmph! Well as long as we aren't gaming, I guess he could sit there._ '

Talking mentally to herself, she had to remind herself that the chairs were for anyone, and not just for her to claim as her Game Master throne. Though it was a really sturdy seat, which was perfect for casting just the right shadows to intimidate her paw... er players over steepeled fingers.

As her fingers worked on soldering an electronic piece in place, she heard a sound behind her. It was familiar, but not enough that she could catch the sound's identity instantly. It was a slight _thwip_ , followed with a light _crack_ and then a small _thwumph_ as whatever it was, landing on the table. With her attention, mostly on what she was melting and attaching, the sounds behind her tugged on her curiosity. Fred was messing with something, but she couldn't quite figure it out without taking a glance behind her. But her pride kept her from looking, as she was a detective and no mystery was too small. Even if it was just what Fred might be doing behind her.

' _It sounds…_ ' Straining to remember the sounds that had just happened moments before, ' _like… paper? Yeah, some type of paper but._ ' Thinking about it, it was more than one piece. ' _So he has a stack of papers that he's… wait. What is that sound?_ '

Behind her, the rustling hadn't stopped. Fred was still doing… _something_ behind her. There was more paper sounds, but different from the sounds that happened before. Which Velma figured was Fred putting down a stack of papers, but now he was… folding?

' _Yeah, that could be it._ ' Slightly leaning back, her project was moving out of her focus and strayed more to what Fred was doing. ' _Putting down the paper, and now he is folding it… for some reason? I guess he's at least keeping himself busy._ '

 ** _~fhwip!~_**

Frowning, Velma knew that sound as well... But where exactly, she wasn't sure? And the sound ended with a little _crunch_ , before she heard the folding again. With her brows furrowed, she forgot her own project as she strained her ears to focus on Fred behind her. Determined to figure out what he was up to!

' _Fold fold... smooth, fold._ ' Thinking about the sounds, she was trying to associate the sounds with things that she knew about in her mind. ' _Fhwipt sound, then crunch... then more folding. Hmmmm..._ '

And the crunch sound was closer to her, then the smoothing sounds. Fred was doing something, and then… _Was he throwing it at her?_

Her project all but forgotten, she concentrated upon the various sounds that were going on behind her. Over and over again, Fred seemed to be doing the same motions over and over again. It seemed that he was trying to accomplish something by doing it repetitively, but what that was, was tugging at Velma's mind.

She was about to put all the pieces together, when the solution literally drifted into her peripheral view. Velma had tilted her head slightly to one side to try to aim her ears better towards Fred to figure out he sounds. But with her head tilted slightly off to the side, she was in the perfect position to watch as the little piece of paper drifted into view. In paper airplane mode. Gliding lightly to land in front of her and by her project.

"Oh!"

Watching the little plane land on her desk, she shifted her weight and picked up the simple little plane from where it had landed. ' _Oh, so he was folding the planes, then that crunch sound was the ones he was tossing at me and missed._ ' She mused, running a finger across the various folds.

"You know…" Velma said, shifting herself to flip around and sit upon her seat backwards to stare over at Fred, who was poised to toss another plane at her. "I would think that Shaggy would have taught you better than this."

Holding the plane, she shook it at him to indicate what she meant. Shaggy had certainly taught them all a thing of two about origami over the years, so folding a better paper airplane then the one she was holding shouldn't have been hard for Fred. Even a few more folds, would have been an improvement over the design she had in her hands. He had just made the most stereotypical paper plain she had ever seen. Surely the man was more skilled at paper folding then that!

But Fred only responded to her taunts with a wide grin, and he tossed the airplane he had at the ready, at her. It drifted at her, landing nose first on the back of her chair with a small crunch impact, and then lightly landed upon the floor to join its brothers. Earning a sigh from the woman.

"Really Freddy?" Velma sighed, scooping up the various paper airplanes that sat behind her chair in her arms, and moved towards where Fred had been working. She only took a moment of pause to shut of her soldering gun before crossing the basement to pull up a chair beside Fred and his stack of papers.

"And you know, tossing it at me isn't as far as aiming for the basement door." Velma pointed out, gesturing at the longer distance that existed towards the door and stairs compared to throwing between her and her previous chair… Unless his whole point of his paper airplanes wasn't so much to see how far it could fly, but to throw it just at her and ruin her concentration. Which then, he succeeded in his plan.

Taking a seat, she dumped the armful of paper airplanes in front of her. Plucking one, she looked it over. Like she had thought before, he had made the most basic airplane one could make. Examining it, the plane was a single piece of paper. Folding the paper in half, then grabbing the two top edges and folding them into the first fold to make the nose. The only one more fold to make the wings. She was surprised that it had even reached her, since it wasn't the most accurate of planes she had ever seen.

Aiming at the door, she gave it a toss. The nose shot upwards and made the whole thing arc and negate the lift she had given it by her throw. It didn't even get a foot away from her, lazily floating to the floor by her feet.

"Building it like this, would work so much better." Taking another plane she had, she unfolded it and adjusted the folds. Adding a second fold inside to double up the nose before flipping it into itself to blunt the tip. Inverting the whole plane, she then folded it and then made the wings. The blunt nose helped not only weight down the front of the plane, but provide a better grip on the plane for her to get the most out of her throw.

Tossing it in the same way of the first, it was a greater improvement over the first. Though it had a bit of a twist too it as it crossed a bunch of the basement. No doubt from not having refolded the original plane and not having the most accurate folds. The sharper and cleaner the lines, the better the design. Even a small tilt in the wings, could throw off the aerodynamics.

"See?" Looking over, Fred was just grinning at her. Amused at something, though no doubt for his plan to get her to do something with his bored self.

"Try that one while I try to recall some other ones Shaggy taught me a while back." Picking up a piece of paper for herself, she passed one of the planes to Fred to try to remodel into the version she had showed him. Wracking her brain for the proper folds, she could easily look it up on her computer but that wasn't as much fun as recalling and making it as she remembered. Plus, she was a consultant for NASA, surely she should be able to make something like a paper airplane with just her default knowledge alone. Less her colleagues take away her ' _nerd license_ '.

"Ooo Ooo." Fred excitedly chirped as his elbow bumped her to get her attention as his plane soared across the room towards her own remodel of the same plane. Only his landed a smidge further then her own, sparking a bit of competition between the two.

"Oh, you are on!" Not to be beat, she really had to remember a good version now!


	3. Shaggy would be proud

Searching her mind, she tried to recall folds for the best design, but Fred just moved to grab a new piece of paper and make a newer version of the plane that she showed him how to make. Though he was tweaking the design as his own puzzle-y mind tried to analyze what had gone wrong with his last design to apply to the new one. Hand smoothing and folding with more precision then the last ones, in an effort to do a better job against Velma.

Hands flew to papers, as the two fought each other in paper form, each trying to top the other as one design beat out the next… or failed spectacularly enough to drive the creator to tweak the design or scrap it entirely. And while they each tried to make their own design, it wasn't against them to try to bump each other as they folded or jostle a hand about to toss a plane to gain the advantage.

Slowly, as they progressed through various alterations and designs, the airplanes that lay in the stretch between the table and the basement door grew in number. Though most of the time, it was clear who the maker of each plane was, and where it sat in the scale of distance towards the door. Velma was more willing to come up with different folds, as her mind tried to recall all the different designs she had known before and to come up with the best and furthest flying plane she could come up with against Fred. While Fred was sticking more to the original plane design, only tweaking bits here and there to try to perfect what he had already made. Like a fine blacksmith trying to hammer out all the faults from his tried and true works.

Normally Fred was more flexible in his designs, but the few times he tried to diverge from his pattern, it didn't end as well as he had hoped... either nose diving when he hadn't expected it, or arcing off to one side where he didn't want. Though he did managed to get a plane into Daphne's darkroom… on the opposite corner that he was aiming for. Though still impressive distance, even if it was in the wrong direction.

The battle heated up and reached its peak… as one of Fred's planes cut through the air, like a hot knife through butter. Velma watched in awe as the plane crossed the basement with the grace of a bird, keeping perfectly level in the still basement air and landed only inches away from the basement door they were aiming at. They both watched in silence, staring for a bit at the far away plane before Velma broke the stillness.

"Jinkies Fred, that was great!" Velma admitted as she was surprised at how smooth that flight had been. The little paper reaching further then all of their earlier attempts by a long shot. Though a part of her mind figured it was a fluke, since Fred seemed surprised as well. Still staring at where it had landed.

"I blame the paper on that one." Fred admitted, not sure exactly what he had done in that particular plane compared to the rest that littered the basement floor. He had been constantly adjusting each plane as they had been competing, so he wasn't sure what he had been doing to make that one any different than the ones that had come before. Not unhappy for reaching a new goal for Velma to try to beat, as he would try to figure out what he had done in the first place, and more importantly… _could he do it again?_

"…What are we folding anyway?" Looking down at the colored paper in her hand, she peeled open the folds of the paper plane in her hand. She had been so caught up with folding and showing Fred what for… that she hadn't even looked at the writing that adorned the front of the pages she had been using. As she unbent the various parts of her plane, it revealed the flyer that Fred had brought down. No doubt to show her, even though she had been oblivious the whole time of his intentions. Even with him literally tossing them at her earlier.

It was an advertisement for a new restaurant that had just opened in town. With various messages and logos for the new location, and showing off how new and shiny the restaurant was. Welcoming anyone who found the paper, to come visit for their grand opening of the food joint. And the advertisement offered a discount if you brought the flyer with you when you visited. Which is probably why Fred had snagged so many.

"… It looks like I was wrong." Velma admitted, giving the paper a pat with the back of her hand. This earning a confused look from Fred. Shifting his attention from his plane to her.

"Hm?"

"Looks like Shaggy taught you well after all!" Velma said with a grin, holding up the flyer and earning a hearty laugh from the man before her. No doubt Fred's actions would have been approved by his taller, shaggier best friend. What a way to tell someone about a new restaurant, then to literally throw is at them. Especially with the date of the grand opening being the next day.

"…We'll have to let Shaggy, Scooby and Daphne know."

"Yep." Fred agreed, amused at how long it took the 'Brainiac' to figure out his original intentions. But then again, it wasn't any fun if she figured it out right away. Why he had picked such a roundabout way to tell her about it. That, and he wasn't as bored anymore. Having gotten her to fold paper airplanes with him to pass the time till she noticed. And it had been fun!

"We'll just have to let them know when they get home." Fred said with a nod.

Thinking about it, she re-read the little flyer as she remembered where the others had gone earlier. Where Daphne had borrowed the others, and what the crazy woman might have been up to all this time. Making sure to take a glance at a nearby clock to see how late it was in the day so far, not being able to accurately judge the time in the darkened basement.

"So… tomorrow then?" Velma offered with an amused grin.

"Heh, knowing Daph… You're probably right." Fred chuckled.

"Poor guys…" Velma sighed, feeling bad for the duo being stuck with her best friend. Knowing all too well how excitable the woman got when the words ' _sale_ ' or ' _discount_ ' was being associated with things that she liked in the Mall. Nothing was safe. She hoped they would be getting out in one piece.

"They'll be fine." Fred dismissed her comment with a wave of his hand and grinned. "There is the food court there after all. Daphne has to eat eventually."

"True." Velma admitted thinking about it. Even Daphne had to stop and refuel in her rush around the mall. So the guys would always be able to take a break and enjoy their favorite time of the day. ' _Food time_ '.

"Very true…"

"Plus, the Mall has to close some time." Fred pointed out. "So I bet they'll be back eventually."

"Yeah… Hey, want to make a few more while we wait? I bet I can beat the distance you got on that last one!" Always up for a challenge, she shot a competitive look towards Fred and grabbed another flyer for flying fodder.

Earning a grin and a quick swipe of another piece of paper for himself. "You are **_on_** Dinkley! Let's see what you're made of!"


End file.
